Daedalus51

I have that board and it works fine for me. I'm in the same boat as you. It was made for the Sony's but I use it for a Hitachi VK-S654. It just provides power and gives video though. I haven't yet figured out what it takes to make the zoom work. I guess I need a controller chip or something to translate the RS485 commands into something the camera can understand. Maybe the Sony block cams won't have that problem. For video it's great if you don't mind doing a bit of wiring/soldering for BNC, coax, power or whatever. My big gripe is with the place I bought it from. They told me shipping would be "about $10" then charged me $20. The board and the cables weighed all of about 2 ounces. Sorry, just venting. Can't remember the vendor.

Agreed. Something to consider is that the better recorders have a "pre-record" memory, which records a limited amount of video from what happened before the motion trigger. I assume it's kind of like a small memory cache that is constantly overwritten, and which gets copied to the hard drive when a motion event occurs. Of course this only works if the trigger is eventually reached, and fairly quickly; if not then it's also useless. For my cheapy DVR, though, this feature would come in handy quite a bit. Regarding the fps discussion, would 30 fps make a difference in trying to get a screen grab of a license plate or face that is moving? Are the frames in 15 fps the same as the frames in 30 fps, just spaced farther apart? Or are they more blury?

I have a problem that I'm wondering if anyone else has seen and, hopefully, knows the cause. I have a Q-See 4-channel DVR and a cheap PTZ dome with a Hitachi VK-S454 block cam. After maybe 3-7 days of operation, the camera image will begin to get suddenly distorted, where it's stretched so much vertically that all I can see are fuzzy blurs when anything moves into view. When the problem starts it usually will soon correct back, but then it will distort more frequently, and stay distorted for a longer period. After a day or 2 of this, it stays distorted. At this point I have to unplug the camera for at least 3 days before it fixes itself. Any less than that, and the image is still distorted. It almost seems like a charge is building up somewhere it shouldn't be, and slowly dissipates when the unit is unplugged. The problem occurs if I leave the RS-485 wires unhooked. However, it does not occur if the camera is plugged in and hooked up to a TV instead of the DVR. The DVR is very basic, and does not have focus control. I'm considering purchasing a contoller and/or another DVR, but I'm hoping to get some confirmation this will fix the problem before spending the money. I would rather not have to dump the dome if possible. Think this is a grounding problem? I've grounded the dome to the plumbing, but haven't seen a difference. Thanks for you help/thoughts.

I'm somewhat of a newbie to this forum. I signed up in March, and it seems the activity has picked up a bit since then. I hope the trend continues. I started out with a Costco Q-see package for my house a couple years ago. I can't speak for Swann, but from what I've read on specs, reviews, and info from sites like this I doubt there's much difference among any of the bargain-basement import brands. It's really "cool" to be able to watch what's going on around the house. I know who's outside while I'm surfing the web. I can see who let their dog poop in my yard and didn't clean it up, and I know which neighbor drops trash on the sidewalk as they walk from their car to their house. I've even recorded some taggers and also a felony committed in front of my house, though not enough evidence (license plate) to do any good for the cops. Honestly, the quality is very poor. The DVR doesn't do all it's supposed to do. The motion sensing is a complete joke at night. The manuals are just terrible attempts at translation. The hard drive gives an error every now and then. Upgrading the firmware can kill the DVR. Customer service is non-existent. The cameras started out crappy and then got worse. I had one mounted where the body (not the lens or sensor) was exposed to the sun, and its image slowly went bad within a year. What's nice is that these systems are modular. You can replace any component depending on need and budget and see instant benefits. I've upgraded 2 cams to a PTZ dome and a much better D/N cam. Right now I am on the hunt for a better DVR. I'll end up spending a lot more than I set out to spend, but the price/performance quotient in this industry is what it is and, like most, I've had to adjust my expectations to reality. Eventually I'll have replaced the whole system, but at the same time I don't think it was a waste of money. I got my feet wet without breaking the bank and I got a lot, though not all, of the benefits that I was looking for.

What do the members here do to prevent intruders from finding the DVR and stealing or destroying it? I've been wondering this for a while now, since my DVR has a fan and is easily heard once you're in the same room, plus it has all the cables coming out of it. It's not realistic to stream images to an external website without paying huge monthly fees. I've considered running a cable to a hard drive in a safe bolted to the floor, but my whole house is wood, and nothing could be made all that secure.

Pretty close though, isn't it? Isn't TV 640 x 480? 3.64 = (640 x 480) / (352 x 240) Is that not right?

Hi everyone, My first post here. I've been looking for an outdoor PTZ for home security. I like my 4-channel DVR system, but the stock cameras that came with the unit aren't very good. I would like to upgrade 1 camera to PTZ and a 2nd camera to fixed with auto iris. The ACD-1500-HT35 PTZ came up in a Google search. I've searched here but haven't found a lot of feedback on Hitachis in general. The specs look good to me, but I'm not experienced in security cams. Any thoughts/opinions? Thank you! Product Features: • Hitachi Zoom Module • 1/4-Inch Format CCD Sensor • Industry 1st 35X Optical Zoom • 540 Max TV Lines Resolution • High Speed Digital Signal Processing • Progressive Scan • DSS (Digital Slow Shutter) • Wide Dynamic Range • Electronic Image Stabilizer • Low 0.01 Lux Rating • IR Cut Filter • 64 User-Defined Presets • 1 Auto Cruise Modes • IP66 Weatherproof Rating • Corrosion-Free Housing • 8â€